Charlton boss Nathan Jones: 'It was a gamble. I know what social media would probably have been saying.....even though I'm not on it'
Addicks manager also reveals Boro midfielder's comment became part of his pre-match pep talk
Nathan Jones only had praise for his Charlton Athletic players after Wednesday night’s 1-0 win at Middlesbrough - but knew his bold team selection would have sparked reaction on social media.
The Addicks boss made five changes for the trip to The Riverside and that included benching all of his first-choice centre-backs in Kayne Ramsay, Amari’i Bell and Lloyd Jones.
Jones is on nine bookings and would have been hit with a two-match ban if he had collected one more caution before the 37th fixture of the season had been completed.
It meant a first start at centre-back for Conor Coady, previously deployed in a holding midfield role since arriving on loan from Wrexham in January. The back three also contained the relatively inexperienced Keenan Gough and Macaulay Gillesphey.
Will Mannion claims the ball/Picture: Alamy
It was Coady who scored the 59th-minute winner against Boro, stretching out a leg to guide Harry Clarke’s long throw past goalkeeper Sol Brynn.
Charlton dug in defensively with the hosts, second in the Championship table and 4-0 winners at QPR on Sunday, enjoying 78 per cent possession and 34 attempts. Tellingly the Addicks had more big chances with Charlie Kelman foiled by Brynn before the half-hour mark.
Jones talked post-match about not starting his namesake in the Boro fixture because he felt the centre-back’s aerial dominance would be more needed this weekend at Oxford United.
“It was a gamble because I’m sure social media would have been going ‘oh, they’ve taken this game lightly’, ‘they don’t think they can win it’ or ‘they are preparing for Oxford’. I imagine that is the case - I don’t read social media. So you’ll have to tell me if that is true or not,” said the Welshman.
